


Her First Friend

by rosymamacita



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Indentured Servitude, Lost in Time, Multiple Personalities, Spiritualism, Time Travel, Veronica is a mad scientist, getting to know her other parts, troubles out of control
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-18 09:50:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4701620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosymamacita/pseuds/rosymamacita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What happens if the new troubles released in Haven give Nathan a new affliction, one that sends him back in time to meet up, again and again with all the incarnations of Audrey Parker. He needs to get back to his time, to save Haven and stop the troubles, once and for all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Time Trouble

When Mara died and Duke’s troubles escaped to afflict all of Haven, it seemed like they would never be able to rest again. Nathan, Audrey and Duke had run around town all day, putting out fires, sometimes literally. Not only were the previously untroubled now afflicted, but those who had already been troubled, had gained new troubles, which mutated their old troubles in completely unpredictable ways.

They kept it up as long as they could, but they had to rest, to recuperate. This was going to be a long fight and they had to start all over again tomorrow. Duke went off to the Rouge to try and gain control over whatever Mara had done to him. Nathan and Audrey fell into bed. He was happy to be able to feel her again, but too exhausted to do more than pull her close in an embrace.

The next thing he knew, he was laying on the beach, some time in mid morning. The surf gently rolling in a few yards away. Birds were singing. Audrey was nowhere in sight. 

Nathan jumped up. “Audrey?” He called. “Audrey!!” There was no answer. Panic rose in his chest, filled his head. “Audrey!” She wasn’t there. He took a deep breath. “Think, Nathan. Think,” he told himself. Taking deep, slow breaths to calm the buzzing in his brain. “This is someone’s trouble. We solve troubles. I will find out where Audrey went.” He paused in his monologue, and looked around. “Nope,” he said, “Where I went.”

He knew where he was. A beach on the outskirts of town. Where answered. New question: How? Barefoot and in his pajamas, he began the hike into town.

It didn’t take him long at all before he realized the most important question of all was not where he was or how he had gotten there, but when he was. The road that should have been winding black top was a narrow track in the high grass. The buildings that lined the road were simply not there. He had gone back in time.

The first house he saw was in a clearing in the woods in a place that should have had a small shopping center and tourist bureau. There was a line of laundry, luckily with a man’s washing on it. He swiped a pair of trousers and a shirt and a pair of work boots from the back porch. They were a near enough fit, although the boots flopped a bit and he needed to grab a stray rope for a belt. There was not a zipper to be seen on any of the clothes.

Time travel. Dammit. How far back had he been sent and who did it? And how could he fix it?

The first thing he needed was information, and no matter what year it was, he knew where to find the people who knew what was going on with the troubles. The Haven Herald. 

The town was much smaller than he was used to. The walk had rubbed blisters on his feet inside of the too big boots. He was dodging horse traffic. Horses. History never had been his thing, but by the fancy dresses the women were wearing, he was guessing he was somewhere around the turn of the century. The last century. 

He swiped a straw hat sitting on the seat of a wooden wagon full of apples, and stuffed it on his head, trying to fit in with the farmers. There was no way he’d fit in with the gentlemen he saw, with their vests and top hats and fancy, shiny shoes. He hitched up his trousers and walked through town, right to the Herald.


	2. The Haven Herald

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time travel troubles, and Nathan finds himself stranded in 1901. He needs information, to find out how to get back to his time, and to find this incarnation of Audrey.

Surprisingly, The Herald offices looked almost the same as they did in his time. He paused momentarily to take a look at the headlines in the window of the office. It was 1901. He had been sent over a hundred years back. But how? 

He went in, honestly expecting to see Vince and Dave, still somehow shocked when the bell above the door jangled and a woman turned to look at him.

She was tall and stately, in a long gray dress with pleats down that front and that peculiar long bodice. Her black curly hair was swept up on top of her head in a tall pile.

She looked Nathan up and down, eying his patched pants held up with rope and his worn work boots. And he knew suddenly that while he had intended to fit in to the time, the kind of person he looked like now did not fit in to a newspaper office. 

“May I help you, sir?” she asked suspiciously.

“Uh…” he stammered.

She raised her chin up in the air and looked down her nose at him. “If you are looking for work, you will need to talk to my husband,” she said. “I only keep the Herald offices for him, I don’t hire the hands.”

Nathan narrowed his eyes at her, taking her measure right back. Only keep the Herald offices for her husband, huh? He noticed she had the same hair and eyes as Vince did.

He rolled up his sleeve slowly and showed her his tattoo. “My name is Nathan—“ he suddenly thought he shouldn’t share his real name, that it might do something to the time line, that he might be damaging Audrey’s time worse than it was already damaged. “Nathan Parker,” he substituted so easily it almost shocked himself. “I’m looking for some information,” he said, his voice steady, and low. 

The woman’s whole posture changed. The haughty demeanor evaporated and she narrowed her eyes right back at him, directly. “And what kind of information would that be?”

1901, he thought. That was the year that Audrey was Veronica. “I’m looking for a woman named Veronica. She might be new in town.”

The woman folded her hands in front of her. He noticed that they were stained with ink. She shook her head. “Well, Nathan Parker, I am Mrs Teagues, and I’m sure you are looking for my husband. But there is no Veronica in Haven, new or otherwise.”

“And you know everyone in Haven,” he stated more than asked.

She nodded in acknowledgement, a bare smile on her face. “However, a passenger ship did just dock at the marina. In from New York City. Perhaps you can find who you are looking for there.”

Nathan, nodded, somewhat disappointed. He thought he would find what he needed here, but that would have been too easy. “And your husband, Mrs Teagues, when might he be back so that I could speak with him?”

Mrs Teagues squinted back at him. “You’re not a farm hand, are you?”

He shook his head, slowly. “No, I am—“

The bell above the door jingled. Both he and Mrs Teagues turned to face the new arrival.

Nathan’s heart skipped a beat.

“Good day,” she said in a lilting voice. “I am Veronica Bainbridge. Of the New York Bainbridges. I’m here to retrieve the keys to the cottage I’ve leased. I believe my agent has arranged everything.”

“Ah, Miss Bainbridge,” Mrs Teagues said. “We’ve been awaiting your arrival.” She looked at Nathan. “Haven’t we, Mr Parker?”

Veronica turned to Nathan. She blinked up at him. Audrey. Her hair was light brown and pinned up loosely. A hat perched on top of the mass. She was dressed all in white lace, from the tips of her toes to her neck. She held a closed parasol and tapped it now on the floor to get his attention. He realized he was staring. He blushed and lowered his eyes.

“Mr Parker?” She said. “Do I know you?”


	3. Veronica

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathan meets Audrey as Veronica, she is not what he would have expected at all, cold and imperious, and talking a bunch of nonsense about spirits and ley lines and magnetism. And she dismissed him out of hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am crazy to write this story. I need to make up original Audreys with historical details. I spent a lot of time writing a time line, trying to figure out how a strange woman can be allowed to come into a new village all alone, without a man around. It's not so hard in the 20th and 21st centuries, but what about the 3 or 4 centuries before that. How did she manage to solve the troubles? What cover story could they have given her, when she's living through an era without women's rights? Granted it's kind of a "witch" town, but still. 
> 
> Oh, I guess I just gave away a spoiler that our Nathan will be visiting more Audreys than just Veronica.

“No,” Nathan sighed. “You don’t know me.”

Audrey— Veronica raised her eyebrows as if she was waiting for something from him. He started. Time travel. Ugh.

“No, miss. You don’t know me. But—“

She held up a gloved hand. “I would appreciate it if you allow me to conduct my business with Mrs Teagues.” She turned away from him as if she expected him to just stand there and wait at her leisure. Dammit. He would. He put his hands on his hips and glared at her in a way that Audrey would recognize with an eye roll and a sarcastic comment. Sarah would too and she would tease him about it. Lexi would give him shit. Hell, Mara would probably try to shoot him. But Veronica Bainbridge simply ignored his existence. He found that annoyed him the most. 

But Veronica— Miss Bainbridge had continued on with Mrs Teagues. Despite his annoyance, he was getting more information that he needed simply by letting her talk. He held his hat in his hands, and listened.

“The keys for the house that I’ve leased? My agent has been in contact with you about it.”

“Yes, Miss Bainbridge. He said you are here as a scientist, to study the region. It’s quite remarkable that a lady of your stature has been able to seriously study the sciences. As a woman in the business of journalism, I am happy be able to assist you in any way you need.”

Veronica smiled and tipped her head towards Mrs Teagues. “It is good to meet a like minded sister here. I was worried, being so far away from society that perhaps it would be expected for me to be… more constrained?”

“I think you’ll find that Haven has a certain tolerance for the unusual.”

Veronica smiled. “Yes. I have heard reports. It is one of the reasons I decided to spend some time studying here. That and the fact there is a surprising confluence of ley lines running north and south, and east and west. Why, the magnetism alone makes this region a prime spot for communicating with spirits from the beyond.”

“Wait.” Nathan couldn’t help but interrupt. “I thought you were a scientist.”

Veronica turned to him, looking down her nose. “I am. I study the science of spirits and energy.”

He laughed. “You’re a medium. Like, talking to the dead and seances and all that.”

“When appropriate,” she turned back to Mrs. Teagues.

“Oh,” Mrs Teagues said. “This is Nathan Parker. He was looking for you by name.”

“My agent, Howard did say that he had hired a man to care for the house while I was here. I suppose this,” she gestured towards Nathan delicately with her lace cover hand, “is the man.”

“Agent Howard is here?”

“Not ‘Agent Howard,’ “she said imperiously, as if he were a dolt. “My agent, Howard. He’s my great uncle’s manservant and handles all these details. Like leasing a cottage, and hiring a man to take care of things.” She nodded at him. “My great uncle is a cautious, old fashioned man . While he shares my fascination with unseen energy, he simply would not allow me come to Haven to do my work if I didn’t have a male protector. Clearly, Howard brought me this far, but my uncle needs him home in New York. As soon as I am settled in he will be returning on the ship that brought us here.”

When the door jingled and they all turned to see who was entering, Nathan was expecting to see Agent Howard and tensed, since the last time he’d seen him, he’d shot and killed him, and the barn to boot. 

But it was a young girl, early 20s at most. Dressed primly in a navy and white pinstriped dress and navy hat, her auburn hair pinned up in a not nearly as towering fashion as Veronica wore. 

“Ah, Becky. My assistant. What is it dear? Is there something amiss with the carriage?”

“No, Miss, it’s just that—“

Becky stopped when she saw Nathan. Her mouth dropped open and she gaped at him. 

Nathan’s eyebrows shot up into his forehead at her shock. He didn’t think he’d gotten the outfit that wrong. She couldn’t stop staring at him, blinking and shaking her head just a bit, as if she were unable to quite see clearly.

She grabbed Veronica’s elbow and leaned in close to her. “Miss, he’s out of time.”

It was Nathan’s turn to gape at her. She knew. 

He stepped forward, wanting to talk to her, something, but she all but hid behind Veronica, who had turned to him once again, with a measuring look. She nodded once.

“Yes, yes. Clearly you are right. We are out of time and we must get our belongings settled in our residence before the tide turns and Howard needs to leave with the ship.” She held out her hand. “The keys, if you will, Mrs Teagues.”

Mrs Teagues blinked and then turned to a wooden box on her desk, grabbing a ring of old keys. “Of course, Miss Bainbridge. I’m sorry to keep you waiting. I look forward to making your acquaintance in the coming weeks.”

“Perhaps you will call at my cottage for an aura reading, when we are settled in?” Veronica smiled at Mrs Teagues.

“That would be lovely,” she said.

“Come then, we must go,” Veronica said. Becky opened the door and fled for the waiting carriage. Veronica turned back.

“Mr Parker,” she said, haughtily, a glint in her eye. “My luggage will not carry itself.”

His heart leapt in his chest. 

There she was.

He ran to hold the door for her, and then followed her anywhere she wanted to go.


	4. Out Of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Veronica considers herself a scientist of unseen energies, in Haven to study the troubles with her instruments. Spiritualism sounds like a crock to Nathan. They both learn a bit more about themselves, with the help of a troubled girl, who has the ability to read troubles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I started this story, I had a clear understanding of how it related to the series and how I could "solve" the troubles for good.
> 
> Then I took a break and spent my month on writing for another fandom.
> 
> Now I have not a clue what my intentions were for the original plot of my story.
> 
> There's a lesson, here, dear readers. Always write down your ideas when you have them. If you don't let them out, they won't stick around.
> 
> So hey, I have no idea how this story is going to end up.

Veronica Bainbridge didn’t actually let him speak until he had unloaded all of her trunks and bags and equipment into the cottage she had leased. It didn’t look much like cottage to him. It was a huge victorian house down town that loomed over the bay. In his time it was an inn. 

He stood in the parlor, his hat in his hand, shuffling his feet awkwardly while Becky went to get him a glass of lemonade. 

Veronica continued to ignore him as she looked about. “It will do. It appears that all my scientific instruments were delivered here in proper order before I arrived. Thankfully, Howard did manage to hire competent hands to make sure I could get to work as soon as I got here.”

He snorted. He still couldn’t get over her claim that she was a scientist. Scientists didn’t read auras.

She turned to him, her head held high, one eyebrow cocked. Nathan decided that her tall hair was really intimidating.

He cleared his throat and looked down. “Will Agent Howard be meeting you here from the boat before he goes?” He wasn’t sure if he really wanted to see the man… if man was what he really was.

“My agent, Howard,” she emphasized, “was never on the ship. His presence is a fiction that must be maintained for proper society so that I may function without a man. When I am in Haven, I say he is on the ship. When I was on the ship, I said he was in Haven.”

“He’s not real?” Nathan said, puzzled.

“Yes, he’s real. He is around when necessary, but I, Mr. Parker, do not need supervision.”

Nathan grinned and looked up at her. “No. I know that.”

“You are a strange man, Mr Parker.”

Becky came back into the parlor with a silver tray and three tall glasses of lemonade.

“Please, sit down,” Veronica said, gesturing towards a gold and red patterned settee. “Let us get to work.”

She sat on the other settee and Becky put the tray on the low table between the two. Becky handed Veronica a glass of lemonade and a cloth napkin. Becky held a lemonade and napkin out to him. He hesitated and Becky nodded at him, holding it closer before he finally took his glass. She took one for herself and then sat next to Veronica, nearly touching.

“How much do you know about Haven?” he asked. He narrowed his eyes at her. She pursed her lips.

“Well, I did say we should get to work. So let’s discard the social niceties. You don’t seem to understand them anyway. Clearly, Mr Parker, you are troubled.”

“You know about the troubles.”

“Of course. I’m here to study them.” 

“How did you know—“

“I told her,” Becky spoke up. “I’m from Haven.” She stuck her chin up defensively. “I wasn’t alive the last time the troubles were here and I never believed in them anyway, but when I almost drowned, I started seeing things. At first I just thought it was my eyes blurring, but it didn’t go away. And then it was everywhere I turned. I could see them. They lay on top of everyone’s skin like a map, telling me who they were and where they came from and…I thought I was crazy. I ran away to New York hoping I could leave them behind in Haven.”

“But you couldn’t,” Nathan said.

She shook her head. “First there were the dreams and then I started seeing them again, in strangers in New York City.”

“She came to me for help,” Veronica said. 

He nodded. “Because you help the troubled.”

Veronica’s eyebrows drew together in confusion.

“Because I’m a scientist who deals with unseen energies. When she told me about Haven, and about the stories surrounding these troubles, I knew that I needed to learn more. So, I decided to come here. To learn. I am a scientist.”

He smiled at her. Nodded.

She pursed her lips at him again. “What exactly is your trouble, Mr Parker.”

“I can’t feel.” 

“What?” Veronica looked at Becky as if for answers.

Becky shrugged. “Yes. I see that. It’s like he’s wearing armor, but there’s something else. I don’t understand.”

“So you can’t be hurt.”

He shook his head. “I can be hurt, I just don’t feel it.” She was looking at him so intently. “I don’t feel pain. Or the breeze on my skin. Or my shirt on my back. Or a woman’s touch.” She blinked. Why had he said that? He cleared his throat and dropped his head.

“No,” Becky said. “There’s something else. He’s out of time. It’s like he’s not really here. He’s somewhere else.”

“In time?”

Becky looked at her helplessly.

“She’s right. I don’t belong in this time.” Veronica had never stopped looking at him. Her eyes ran over his face, to his shoulders, down his chest and back up. She made his heart beat faster. It was getting harder to remember that she wasn’t Audrey. He ached to touch her. He took a big breath. At least she already knew about the troubles. He didn’t have to break that news. “I’m from the future. 2015, to be exact.”

Veronica and Becky both gasped. Veronica slowly put her lemonade back on the tray.

“Someone’s trouble must have sent me back in time. It’s happened once before. Audrey managed to bring us back.”

“Audrey?” Veronica asked.

“Audrey Parker,” he said. He didn’t know why. He looked into her eyes, looking for her to make the connection.

“Your wife,” she said flatly. 

He sighed. “No. Parker is not my real name, I just took it…” Then laughed at himself. “Maybe someday, if…” The urge to tell her was unbearable. What if giving her information now, about who she was and what was happening to her actually allowed her to figure it out in the future. He had already met four different incarnations of Audrey, and sometimes he was sure there was some bleed through. Somehow, all of her was still in there.

“In my time, Audrey is a federal agent who became a police detective with me, in the Haven Police Department. She is my partner.”

“And your lover.” Veronica said. 

Veronica was much more bold than he would expect a society lady at the turn of the century to be. He smiled. Like Audrey. He nodded. Then he took a deep breath and went on. 

“But Audrey has been in many times. Each time as a different woman. Twenty seven years before, in the 1980s, Audrey was named Lucy Ripley. Twenty seven years before that she was Sarah Vernon, a nurse in World War II.”

“World War?”

He shook his head. “Too much information. Twenty Seven years before Sarah, we don’t know who she was, but we do know that, like always, she shows up here, in Haven, with a new identity—“

“During the troubles,” Becky interrupted. “Every twenty seven years. The troubles come to haven for a few years and then they stop.” Becky looked at him in wonder. 

“Yes. She helps the troubled and she stops the troubles.” He looked at Becky then. “Every twenty seven years, she goes into this barn that appears from out of nowhere, and then she and the barn disappears, and with them, so do the troubles. Every twenty seven years, during the Hunter meteor showers. I know it sounds unbelievable.”

“I know of these Hunter meteor showers,” Veronica said, excited. “A great deal of metaphysical activity is recorded at that time. I was excited to be able to plan my trip to Haven so that I can test the ley lines during the meteor shower.”

“No,” Becky jumped in. “You’re wrong. I don’t see it. I always see troubles. She is not troubled.”

Veronica didn’t understand, but Becky did. “She is immune to the troubles. They don’t affect her.”

“But she makes me feel so at peace. I can breathe when I am near her.”

“Do the visions go away when you touch her?”

Her eyes widened. “And does your trouble go away when she touches you?”

He nodded. “She’s the only person, the only thing I feel.”

Veronica laughed. She looked back and forth between the two of them. “You’re saying I’m your Audrey. Or I will be. That’s ridiculous. I’m Veronica Bainbridge, of the New York Bainbridges. I just came back from traveling the continent studying with spiritualists in all of the major cities. Prague. Paris. Vienna. I was there. I remember it all.”

Nathan nodded. “When you go into the barn, Agent Howard gives you new memories. There is a woman out there who is actually Veronica Bainbridge, but you are not her, you just have her memories.”

“Agent Howard.”

“When I met him, he was Audrey’s federal bureau of investigations boss, not your agent, Howard.”

Veronica reached out with a shaky hand for her lemonade. “This is quite a bit of information to deal with in one sitting.” She took a sip and then a deep breath. “But, I came to Haven for the adventure. For the troubles. For… well.” She put her lemonade back down. “But I am a scientist. I will get to the bottom of this.”

He couldn’t help the half smile that snuck onto his lips. “It’s what you do.”

She shot him a penetrating look. “You said you went back in time once before.” He nodded. “Did you meet me before? Me as one of the other identities?”

“Sarah.”

“The nurse from the world war you spoke of.” He could see her curiosity. He didn’t want to get into global politics right now. But her next question shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did. “Was Sarah also your lover.”

“Uhm—“ She raised her eyebrows. “Yes.”

“Because she—I am the only one you can feel.”

He swallowed. “That wasn’t why, but yes, you are the only one I can feel.”

“All the different women that are me.” He nodded. “How curious,” she said as she began to unbutton her lace glove. She put the glove on the table next to the lemonade and reached out to him, he leaned into her.

“No!” Becky shouted. “Don’t touch him!”

Veronica sat back. So did Nathan, surprised at how fast his heart was beating.

Veronica smiled and looked at Becky fondly. “Don’t be jealous, my dear,” she put her hand on Becky’s leg. “This is in the spirit of scientific discovery. You know that you are my first love.” Veronica leaned over and kissed Becky on the lips, then shot Nathan a glance before turning to him again. “Aren’t you surprised that I would declare my love for another woman, Mr Par—Nathan?”

Nathan huffed a short laugh. “Actually, Mara, another incarnation of you, already told me that about you.”

She sat back. “And this is not a shocking thing in your time? Not unnatural?”

He shrugged. 

“I should like to see your time, Nathan, where a woman can be a police detective and forbidden love is no longer forbidden.”

“You will.”

“A time where you are my lover?” He nodded. She reached her hand out for him again.

“Stop!” Becky said. “I’m not jealous. It’s him. It’s what confused me before.”

This time Veronica turned to her seriously. “What do you see.”

“He is out of time. It’s not someone else’s trouble that sent him back in time, it’s his. When you reached out to him, I could see it, breaking through his armor, reaching out to you. Time. Time connects the two of you. If you touch him, time will take him.”

“No. My trouble is— Fuck.”

“Mr Parker! I mean, Nathan! Please. Do people in your time not watch their tongues in the presence of ladies?”

Nathan snorted. “Not really. And you aren’t a lady.”

Becky gasped, horrified. Veronica put her hand on Becky’s arm. “It’s true,” she said, fiercely, as if she was tired of wearing the gloves and mask. “I’m not a lady. I hate being a lady. I don’t actually mind the vulgarity. Please, Nathan, go on.” She reached her hand out again, as if she wanted to touch him, but put her hand on the table top instead.

“In my time, Mara, the first of your incarnations, altered Duke Crocker.”

“I know the Crockers,” Becky interrupted and a nervous expression slipped over her face.

Nathan nodded. “Duke has been helping us, and Mara took him and altered his trouble. She could do that because… well, because she started the troubles. Hundreds of years ago, Mara and her lover William gave the troubles to the citizens of Haven, and in the intervening centuries, she was cursed to return every 27 years to help the troubled.”

“My. I am quite the fascinating woman,” Veronica said breathlessly.

He huffed a laugh but didn’t comment. “Mara changed Duke and he— began giving off troubles. Infecting people with them, and in the end, we defeated her—“

“Defeated her? Me. Defeated me.” 

“The evil Mara was separated from Audrey, from you.”

“Why do you think I am Audrey and not Mara?”

“Do you want to help people or would you rather play with them like toys you don’t mind breaking?”

“Mr Parker! Nathan! How horrible!”

“That’s how I know you’re not Mara. Mara played with Duke and filled him with troubles, and when we defeated her, the troubles exploded and infected everyone in town, afflicted and unafflicted alike. I must have gotten a new trouble.”

“But you already had a trouble,” Becky said. “The inability to feel.”

“And now, if you’re right, the only person I can feel sends me out of time.” He closed his eyes and let out his breath. Trying to control the pain in his heart. “That’s the last thing I remember before waking up on the beach here.” He said eyes still shut. “Audrey. I had just pulled her to me, close. To hold her while we fell asleep.”

He felt a hand on his wrist and his eyes shot open. Becky looked at him with soft sympathy, next to him, while Veronica sat on the other side of the table, watching them.

“I can’t touch you or you will be sent out of time.” Veronica looked at him with Audrey’s eyes. “You love her.”

“More than anything.”

“You love all of her. Audrey. Sarah…. Me?”

“All of the above,” he said quietly.

She nodded. “Of course,” she said and stood up, brushing off her skirt. “Come, Becky. Show him to the study.” She held her hands up and away. Becky took his arm and led him down a short hall. The room she led him to was lined with built in bookcases and set up about the room was an array of strange equipment that looked like something you would see in a gothic horror movie. 

“Please sit down.” She gestured to a nightmare looking chair with a metal cap that had wires leading off of it. 

“I am not going to be your Frankenstein’s monster, Veronica.”

She turned a smile on him that was brilliant. He nearly had to sit down in the nightmare chair just to keep from falling over. “Theoretically it should be possible, to bring life back with energy, but that is an experiment for another day. For you, we want to test your trouble—troubles. Time and energy and love and… hmmm… Quickly, Becky. Attach the electrodes.”

“So impatient,” he teased. She raised one eyebrow at him and smiled devilishly. She was definitely flirting with him. Becky lowered the cap and attached wires to his arms. When she started to fasten a strap on his wrist, holding him down.

“Wait a minute, you don’t have strap me down. Hey, is this thing electrified?”

“Don’t be scared, Nathan. It’s just for the readings. You know me. I can’t hurt you.”

“You’re the only one who can.”

She stopped fiddling with her dials and turned to him. “I really want to touch you, Nathan. I’ve never felt this urge before.”

“I can see it,” Becky said. “His energy is reaching out for you.”

There was a rattling behind her and she turned to the machine. It held tubes of colorful liquid. “Look the levels are rising. It’s the energy!” She sounded so excited. “Becky, go touch him and see if it affects the levels. Hmm. No.” She said. “Do you see anything with your vision?”

“Nothing. His energies aren’t attached to me.”

“Hmm.” Veronica walked slowly towards him. His pulse sped. The liquid in the tubes began to bubble. “Yes, definitely me. Becky?”

“The closer you are, the more it reaches for you. Like tentacles or lightning bolts.”

“And how do you know it’s time, and not electricity? I don’t feel it.”

“Then why are you reaching your hand out to him?”

Veronica pulled her hand back and went back to her tubes. They stopped bubbling, but the levels remained high.

“I can’t explain why I know it’s not electricity or anything else. It’s there and not there at the same time. It’s now and yesterday and tomorrow but it’s here and him and you. I know it makes no sense.”

“No,” Veronica said, her voice husky. “It makes sense.” She took a step towards Nathan and caught herself. Stopping in the middle of the room. “Your new trouble is love. Your love goes through the centuries. And now you do too.”

Nathan laughed but he felt wrecked inside. “That is some awful love, there. A tragic trouble. She’s the only one I can feel, but whenever we touch, I am torn away from her and sent through time.”

“Only to find her in another time, just waiting to fall in love with you all over again.” Her blue eyes darkened as she looked at him from across the room. 

“You are quite a fascinating woman, Veronica Bainbridge.”

“You are quite a fascinating man, Nathan…”

“Wuornos.”

“I know the Wuornoses. They don’t have your trouble. Either of them.” Becky said.

“I was adopted. From the Hansens.”

“Oh. Yes then. That does fit. Now I see how it’s supposed to look. They don’t have those seams in their armor, more like a skin for them.”

“I wish I could find one of you in my time. It would be very helpful in solving the troubles.” Nathan liked the girl, and couldn’t even find it in him to be jealous of her relationship with Veronica. Veronica wasn’t his, even though she was, and he liked that she had Becky, that she wasn’t alone. He smiled at her and grabbed her hand, even though he couldn’t feel it, tried to make her understand how he valued her.

Becky’s eyes widened and the tubes blurted within their confines. Nathan dropped her hand.

“What was that?” Nathan looked at her. “I felt that. You were warm. Your hand was warm.”

“I felt you,” Becky said. “Your gratitude. Why are you thankful for me?”

He could still feel the warmth pulsing in his hand. It wasn’t the same as touch, but it was sensation all the same. “Because you love her,” he said, “and she deserves to be loved.”

“Why did you take her hand, Nathan?” Veronica asked softly.

“Because I wanted to make her understand that I… was glad for her.” Not jealous, he said in his head, but he wasn’t going to say that out loud. He’d just met Veronica. Sort of.

“And that is exactly what you made her understand. You did it. You directed the energies.” She pointed at the tubes which had again subsided. “Science says so.”

He laughed. “I thought you were a charlatan.”

“Why ever would you think that, Nathan?” she kept saying his name. “You know about the troubles.”

“Because of this science business and ley lines nonsense you said before.”

“Ley lines are NOT nonsense, Mr Wuornos. There are spots in the land where energies come together and the other side is closer to the surface. If we learn how to control this energy, we will gain the ability to speak to the spirits on the other side. The ley lines connect these energy vortexes and thus energy is fed throughout the land to the people living near the places of power.”

Nathan shook his head at his own stupidity. The helmet rattled its wires. “Thinnies. Mara called them thinnies. Doors through the void. It’s where the aether that causes the troubles comes from. Mara can control the aether. And you can read the energy with your science. Remind me never to underestimate you, Veronica.”

She took a step towards him. “I will remind you every time I meet you, Nathan.”

“What?”

“You can control your troubles, Nathan.”

“No, I can’t. They just take over.”

She shook her head and took another step towards him. The tubes bubbled. “Your new trouble, it connects you to Audrey and to me and to all the other incarnations of your love. And it connects me to you. But that is all it connects to. Just me and you. It will always send you back to me. But it’s up to you which me you come back to.”

“How is it up to me?”

“You directed the energies to tell Becky you were grateful for her. You wanted it. You felt her, too. I don’t know if your new trouble changed your old one to make it more vulnerable. Becky said it looked different from the Hansen’s, but you can control your energies. Have you ever tried to control your trouble before?”

He shook his head, confused. “No, it’s just something that happened to me. I can’t… no one can…” but his words died off. That wasn’t precisely true. He had spent so long being angry at Duke, considering him dangerous, a menace even, but when he thought about it, Duke had almost always been able to control his troubles. He never had been a danger, he had only ever been a help. His brother on the other hand, had let the Crocker curse turn him into a monster. 

He thought back to all the troubled he had ever encountered, and their various attempts to either use or restrain their various troubles. Yes. Maybe they could control their troubles. Something Mara said returned to him.

Becky shook his shoulder gently, He snapped back to attention.

“Where did you go, Nathan?” Veronica asked, concern in her voice.

“The troubles are a gift,” he said. “It’s something Mara said. I ignored her, because, well, she was psychotic and she kept trying to kill me.”

“I did?”

“Mara isn’t you, Veronica. At this point, you’ve spent hundreds of years with different incarnations trying to do good for the people of Haven, trying to make up for what Mara did. You have been helping far longer than Mara was harming. And you don’t remember being Mara.”

“So I am Mara. The wrong she did is the basis of who I am.”

“No. You are good. You help.”

“Yes. I am what I do with my abilities. I can choose to use my energies to help or to destroy. It is up to me. It was up to Mara. We all make those choices, Nathan,” she smiled. “You make the choice to help people in your daily life, as a police detective. You can make the choice to direct your energies, your trouble, where you want it to go.”

She took another step towards him. “Touch Becky’s hand. Make her feel you.”

He reached out to touch Becky, but his eyes never left Veronicas. He tried to make Becky feel. Heat pulsed under his fingers. It warmed his whole body. The tubes burbled.

“Hope. You feel hope,” Becky said. “You are glowing, Mr Wuornos. All around the cracks of your armor.” She smiled like she was lit from within.

Veronica nodded and took another step towards him. 

“You can control it, Nathan.” She was almost touching him now. The tubes boiled furiously. “Think of your Audrey. Return to her.”

She reached out to his hand, delicate fingers with filed oval nails just barely touching him. He shivered at the sensation. He wanted to stay to feel her.

“Think of you,” he said, his eyes fluttering closed.

“Think of her, Nathan.” She laid her hand on his then, with more pressure. He held on to feel it. Straining to hold himself in. She ran her hand up his arm. “Think of her.” He could feel her as she leaned up to him, her lips hovering over his. 

“You always help the troubled,” he whispered.

“The gifted,” she breathed against his lips. Then she kissed him. 

He held on to himself, trying to stay, to kiss her back, to feel the warmth and pressure as her mouth pressed into his and her tongue slid against his tongue. His nerve ending sang into his brain. He tried to keep his energy from leaking out all through time and space, but it was no use. He heard the tubes boiling furiously then a pop and glass shattering, and that was all.


	5. Will Or No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathan's figured out how he is being sent back in time, and of course it has to do with Audrey. 
> 
> Veronica told him that he should be able to direct his own time travel to take him back to the Audrey of his time, but he still ends up traveling to one of Audrey's earliest incarnations. 
> 
> He has some things to learn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know very very little about the early 1500's. Expect no historical accuracy, although I tried. Google doesn't have photos of early Maine settlements. Bad Google. Bad history before technology.
> 
> Did you know that even though the printing press was invented by this time, the first newspaper in America wasn't printed until 1704, in Boston, about 200 years later than this story. Remarkable. So there is no Haven Herald in this story. Just the widow Teagues with her mess of squabbling kids. 
> 
> So, I have that historical accuracy for you. And the fact that America was founded on slavery, not only of African slaves, but also of Irish and English slaves. Although, in this early period, indentured slavery generally ended after about 7 years once they had fulfilled the terms of their bond. Hereditary, race based slavery didn't start until later, for economic reasons. 
> 
> Aaaand the lapsed humanities teacher will step away from the fan fiction now. Just pretend none of this is fact checked and has just a vaguely old timey thing going on.

Love.  
Love will keep us together.  
Think of me babe whenever.

Nathan woke up on the beach, with song lyrics inexplicably running through his head.

It was the same beach, isolated and wild. He was still in his farm hand clothes. But that meant nothing if he could just get back to his time. He jumped up and headed back for the road, or where the road should have been. There was none. Certainly not modern blacktop lined with tourist shops. It wasn’t even the track through the weeds of the last time.

This time there was the beach and there was the wilderness and that was all there was. 

Well. That wasn’t good. 

He hiked through the weeds and woods, through streams and up onto the bluff where he could look down upon the town. 

There was no town. 

There were a few buildings, a few columns of smoke rising into the sky, some wagons on a dirt road, and the harbor. 

“Crap. When the hell am I?” A very old fashioned ship pulled into the harbor. He watched for a while as it unloaded. Considering his previous trips through time, he thought it was a good bet that Audrey was on that ship.

He wished he knew more about history, so he could at least identify what time period that ship was from, but he apparently hadn’t been that good a student in school. Or they never bothered teaching the different eras of ships. There was no point in wondering. He started down into the settlement. He hoped his clothes from the 1900s weren’t too modern for this place.

**

In town, no one seemed to notice him walking through the muddy streets. There was a blacksmith. A trading post. A rooming house. A church. And a few houses. So either no one cared about what he wore or it wasn’t out of place. He made it all the way down to the harbor.

And then there she was. Dressed in a plain linen dress, her hair wrapped up in a cap. A wrapped bundle at her feet. Her bare feet. Her fists were on her hips and she scanned the town, looking for something.

He stepped up to her and took a chance. “Agent Howard sent me.”

She glared at him and then looked him up and down. “You’re no missus.” She said. “I was told the missus would come to collect me.” She spoke with an Irish accent and her eyes snapped at him. It made him smile.

“She couldn’t make it. What is your name?”

“Moira,” she said. 

“Mara?” He said, shocked.

“Are ye daft ye scarecrow? I said Moira. And by all rights ye should know that, seeing as you come from the Widow Teagues to collect me.”

The Teagues. He nodded to himself. They were one of the oldest families in Haven and the newspaper was the one of the oldest buildings. He’d take the chance that the Teagues place was still up the hill from the harbor. 

“I can take you to the widow Teagues.”

She rounded on him. “I should hope so, since ye just told me ye would. Don’t ye be thinking ye’ll be getting anything out of me but a howdedo. I’ll have ye know I have six brothers and they all be twice the size of ye. I’ve been fighting off louts since I was three. Just because I sold my bond to the widow doesn’t mean the rest of me is free for the pickings. I’m here to help the widow and her bairns. You’ll do to remember that.”

“Nathan,” he said, and smiled. “Nice to meet you, Moira. Let me show you to the widow Teagues.”

Disarmed, she blinked at him, her blue eyes wide, and her scowl disappeared. “I—I thank ye… Nathan.” She bent to pick up her bundle, which she held under her arms. “Show the way.”

They began walking up the hill. “How was your voyage,” he asked politely.

“How do ye think it was,” she snapped. “I’m a piece of property carted off in the hold of ship.”

“A slave ship?”

“No. Cargo. The Agent made sure of that. He picked me for the widow himself, I have skills ye see. And I sold my bond so my family could stay on our farm. But still. I’m not my own person. I’ve been given over to this new land, to the widow to do her bidding, to care for her whether I will or no.”

Her words made him uncomfortable. He remembered the day that Audrey had to go back into the barn, whether she willed or no. 

Moira wasn’t Mara and she should have none of her memories, but he couldn’t help but hear her tone in this Moira’s voice. Mara seemed closer to the surface in this time, in this early incarnation. Here she was, an indentured slave in Haven, under a term of servitude. In someways, Mara’s servitude would go on to last centuries.

“Moira,” he said. “I know this is new, but you will come to love this town. Haven will welcome you. You will find purpose here.” He found that they had stopped in the middle of the dirt road, she had turned to face him. Her eyes were round and clear blue again, hoping. “You will have friends here.”

A door slammed open and two young boys tumbled out into the street fighting, nearly bowling them over. Nathan grabbed for their collars. “Let me guess. The Teagues boys.”

The boys stopped their squabbling and looked up at him. “Yes sir,” the oldest one said.

Nathan let go of the boys collars. “Go tell your mother the help she asked for is here.”

The boys ran off back into the house, with shouts of “Ma! Ma!”

Nathan looked at Moira. She had squared her shoulders and was looking determinedly after the children.

“So with six brothers, I expect those two will not be a problem for you.”

“Not a bit, Nathan.” She smiled at him, “Although perhaps I wouldn’t mind your strong arm around to help out.”

He shook his head and smiled back at her. “When you’re not snapping my head off, you’re a sweet talker Moira.”

“I’ve been told so, Nathan. Ye say I have friends here in Haven. May I count you among them?”

“I will always be your friend, Moira.” And with that, he took her hand, feeling the energy sizzle inside of him, and kissed her fingers.

The door opened and Moira turned to face her new life. 

Nathan, however, was gone.


End file.
